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| Europe |
| Al-Qaeda inspired Hofstad group |
| 2006-01-24 |
| A group of 14 suspected Islamist militants charged with planning attacks were inspired by radical political Islam and the words of al Qaeda, Dutch prosecutors said today, as they summed up their case. The trial is a test of a new Dutch law, which introduced the charge of ''membership of a criminal organisation with terrorist intent'' carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years in 2004 after acquittals in several other high profile cases. The men, mostly of Moroccan origin, were arrested after the November 2 2004 murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh which stoked tensions with the 1 million Muslims living in the Netherlands. ''The men were part of an organisation which planned criminal acts,'' prosecutor Koos Plooy told a packed high-security court on the outskirts of Amsterdam. Prosecutors said Mohammed Bouyeri, who is serving a life sentence for shooting and stabbing Van Gogh, was the ringleader of what was dubbed the ''Hofstad group'' by Dutch media. They were inspired by ''radical political Islam'', and a ''belief driving them to instil fear of concrete attacks or to threaten with attacks,'' Plooy said. ''(It was) a belief driving them to spread hatred ... A belief inspired by al Qaeda writers and theorists, pushing them to do whatever they could,'' he said. Nine of the suspects sat in court, including Bouyeri with a red and white headscarf covering his head, some of them listening to proceedings through interpreters. The trial has been underway for several months, during which prosecutors brought in witnesses and presented other evidence to back up their allegations against the Hofstad group. However, defence lawyers have said there is no concrete evidence against their clients. Prosecutors are due to state what sentences they want and to sum up evidence on Wednesday. WITCH HUNT ''We have still not heard anything about proof,'' Britta Boehler, one of the defence lawyers said, adding she expected an acquittal. In a recent interview with a Dutch daily, defence lawyer Victor Koppe said: ''The Hofstad trial is only being carried out in this way as it is about Muslims. This is a variation on the classical witch hunt.'' Five of the suspects have been released since the start of the trial on December 5 as it became clear there was not enough evidence against them to justify sentencing them for longer than the time they had already spent in temporary custody. Two of the suspects, Ismael Akhnikh and Jason Walters, also seen as core Hofstad group members, face charges of attempting to kill police officers who were wounded when they hurled a hand grenade at them when they tried to arrest the men in a November 10, 2004 siege in The Hague. They are also charged with threatening right-wing politician Geert Wilders and Somali-born parliamentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali who worked with Van Gogh on his movie Submission about violence against women in Islamic societies. Another, suspect Nouriddin El Fatmi was arrested carrying a loaded pistol, two cartridge holders and a box of ammunition while charges against another were dropped for lack of evidence. The court is set to hand down its verdict on March 10. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |